Benji Galloway, 30, is among the world's best contest pro skateboard competitors. The past season was one of his best.

But Benji Galloway is almost among the least popular pro skateboarders in some circles. Some rivals say he is overly competitive. Others believe he is conceited. Somebody even spray-painted a pair of huge bacon strips on Benji Galloway's van one time, in an apparent reference to his connection with Bacon Skateboards.

Benji Galloway first insists he has plenty of friends on pro skateboardingbut acknowledges he has some detractors as well. Omar Hassan, Brian Patch and Frank Gerwer are among them.

Benji Galloway perceives that he may be viewed as an outsider because he grew up in the Deep South near Charleston, South Carolina, so he's not exactly a skateboard/surfer beach dude. He learned to skate in a facility called the Charleston Hanger Bowl, which he describes as "all wood and metal ramps with flesh eating screws sticking out." Therefore, he wore knee pads; in fact, he had basketball knee pads before he begged his strict father to borrow $9 for skateboarder knee pads. When Benji Galloway began entering competitions, he was the only guy in knee pads, so he figures other skaters saw him as either a showboat or a dork.

Benji Galloway also doesn't shy away from the fact that he concentrates on contest skating and racking up World Cup points. He says he needs to make some money. He's not the most popular guy with sponsors, and he doesn't appear in skateboard magazines as often as many of his peers. He does work as a carpenter, including construction of skateboarding ramps, in order to make a living. Not too many pro skateboarders are carpenters from South Carolina.

His rivalry with Omar Hassan, says Benji Galloway, started when Omar "felt he got the short end of the stick" from judges at a contest. Omar Hassan and Brian Patch then reportedly began calling Benji Galloway "Session Killer," because they didn't want to skate with him.

Frank Gerwer reportedly has a different nickname for Benji Galloway, "Content Point Guy." Galloway simply answers, "Well, I don't want to go to a contest and get last."

Sources:
http://www.automaticmag.com/issue59/issue59_benji.php
http://www.juicemagazine.com/Juice_store.html
http://www.skateboardermag.com/av/scmbnjgllwy/
http://www.bnqt.com/article.php?id=5933